Pentecost 17 Mark 8:27-35 Jesus is the Christ
“Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."
Even with all the profound teachings and miracles that Jesus did, and with all the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in his life and ministry, a lot of people just didn’t get it! All of the prophets preached repentance and prophesied His coming. Now He was here but no one seemed to see that he was more than a prophet. The popular opinions about Jesus fell short of the truth. They didn’t say he was the Son of God. They didn’t say he was the long awaited Messiah. They didn’t say that he was the Savior of the world. Surely Jesus was frustrated that so many had formed their own opinions rather than relying on the word of God to find the truth about Him.
Today’s popular opinions of the people around the world are very similar. If you ask people who Jesus is, many will say he was a great teacher who started one of the great religions of the world. Others will compare him to other famous religious teachers, like Moses, Buddha or Mohammad. I am sure that it upsets Jesus today that so many still do not understand who He truly is.
Jesus asked the question. “Who do YOU say that I am?” The spokesman for the group quickly and confidently gave the correct answer. Peter said, "You are the Christ." Matthew tells the story with more detail. (Matthew 16:16-18) Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Peter got it right. He made a wonderful confesion of faith. Jesus was and still is the Christ, the Messiah; the promised Savior. And Jesus was the Son of the living God, and therefore also true God himself. How did Peter know this when others got it wrong? After all, most of the crowd knew the Old Testament scriptures very well and yet they did not see Jesus for who He truly was. Jesus tells us it is because the Father in heaven had revealed it to him. Peter heard Jesus speak God’s Word. He listened as our Lord opened the Scriptures. He saw the miracles that fulfilled the prophecies. And through the Holy Spirit, Peter’s eyes were opened and He believed in his heart!
“Who do YOU say I am?” Jesus asked. Sometimes, when we imagine the final judgment, we imagine ourselves standing or kneeling before God’s throne and giving an answer for our lives. However, God certainly won’t ask us about the good we’ve done in our lives - because our good works really don’t matter before God. Nor will he ask us about the sins we’ve committed - because every one of them has been completely forgiven and cannot be counted against us. Neither will God ask us to give an answer for our faith, but if he did, the questions He might ask are:
Do you believe that Jesus is God? Do you believe that he is the Savior God promised? Do you believe he lived a perfect life as your substitute and died to take away your sins? If you believe this in your heart, then like Peter, you are truly blessed! For this was not revealed to you by man, but by our Father in heaven. God has sent His Spirit into your hearts and you have a living and saving faith!
You may never have to answer this question before Jesus; however, you will have to answer to His question. Someone, somewhere, sometime will ask you, “Who do you think Jesus is?” Will you give an answer in which you tell them who you THINK He is or will you tell them about who He TRULY is?
When a good friend says to you, “I think that all the religions in the world are the same – as long as you believe in something good, it doesn’t make any difference what you believe.” what will you say? If someone says, “I don’t really believe that Jesus rose from the dead.” what will you say?
If someone says that they have done their best to live a good life and they believe they have done enough to get into heaven, what answer will you give them? Will you give a good, solid confession of your faith in Jesus as the Son of God and the only Savior there is? Will you tell them about God’s plan of salvation - that we are saved not by works or human effort, but through Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who died on the cross to take away our sins? Or will you nod your head as if in agreement and walk away not wanting to offend them or cause any hard feelings?
Peter, who started out with such a great
confession of who Jesus is shows us another side of all of us this morning.
“Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
In Mark’s gospel, this was the first time that Jesus spoke plainly about his death and resurrection. Jesus said that the Son of Man must suffer. The very first promise in Genesis 3:15, where it said the seed of the woman would bruise his heal, showed that the Messiah must suffer. There was no other way that people could be saved! It had to be this way or no way at all!
But Peter didn’t want to hear this kind of talk! So he scolded Jesus for talking this way! Peter wanted to believe that everything would be perfect now that the Christ had come. While Peter was remembering the scriptures that spoke about the wonderful prophesies, he was forgetting about the scripture that told about the pain and suffering the Christ would undergo.
One moment Peter makes a marvelous confession of his faith and in the next moment the devil is trying to use him to undermine God’s kingdom and destroy God’s plan of salvation.
How can this be? Well this sometimes happens when Christian’s are badly informed about all of God’s truth. They have blind spots in their Christian education and fill in these areas with their own opinions. Sometimes it happens because Christians let their Old Adam speak instead of their new man in Christ. But what is our Lord’s response to men’s opinions? Jesus said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Good people, have you ever gotten in our Lord’s way and tried to hinder the work of his kingdom? Suppose you want to get a good job and you have heard of a company who has the greatest boss in the world. And one day, you get a call that says the boss of that great company wants to talk to you about working for Him. You arrive early for your interview and the secretary says to you, “What do YOU want?” she says. You give her your name and tell her you have an appointment but you cannot help wonder if you’re in the right place.
The secretary looks at her book and says, “Well, You have an appointment but you do not look at all like the kind of people we want working here. Sit down and take a seat. People like you come in thinking you are so important and end up wasting our company a lot of time. Don’t you know he has more important things to do?” So you say “Excuse me, I must have the wrong place.” And you leave.
Well now, the boss might be the nicest man in the whole world. But if his receptionist is irritable and misrepresents her boss, most people will get the wrong first impression and leave. Every day whether we are in Church, at home at work or at play, we are all God’s receptionists. Most people do not discover God by themselves. They find out about God and our Savior Jesus through someone else speaking God’s word to them. They find out about God and our Savior Jesus Christ through you and me.
They either hear about God in a way that makes them want to know more about Him or in a way that makes them walk away. Still, they must be told that being a Christian is not always easy and that Satan will do everything he can to dissuade them from being faithful.
I pray that we as Christians’ give people a good first impression of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we speak only the truth about our Lord. As we fill ourselves with the word of God though study and worship we become better equipped to speak, say and do what is good and right. I pray that the Holy Spirit gives us the right words to say as He has promised. Recall what Jesus told His Disciples, “do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:19-20)
Will any of us ever made a perfect confession of our faith and never gotten in the way of Jesus’ work? We see Peter make a marvelous confession of faith, and then we see him say something awful.
None of us has done much better than Peter. Sometimes we can make a wonderful confession of faith in our Jesus Christ our Savior! When we do, it is because God has used us and opened our mouths to declare His praises. And sometimes we can have in mind the things of men and get in the way of Jesus’ work. But in the end, by God’s grace, Peter was saved. And so are you because Jesus is the risen Lord and Savior who has given you salvation. Jesus is the Christ. And by His work and His work alone we are saved through faith in Him. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Note: Thanks to the Rev. Charles Degner for his original illustration and insight, which I have adapted for this sermon.